Last year I struggled with “letting go” of decorating the Christmas Tree. I’ve always been a little bit OCD when it comes to Christmas. Everything needs to be “just so”, all the baubles and wooden stars and child-created creche “art” need to be in perfect balance—a harmony of festive design. I suspect it’s about me trying to recreate the Christmas rituals I relished as a kid and it’s taken practice for me to Step Away from the Christmas Tree as a parent.

This year, to tell the truth, I just couldn’t be arsed decorating the bloody Christmas Tree. I’ve been flat-out editing the cr*p out of UXmas, so we set up the tree, opened up Pando… ahem, the Christmas box of decorations and said to the children, “Go forth. Create magic.” And a magical job they did.

Pre-magic. “You might have stopped hovering, mum, but you’re still bugging us with that camera.”

I suspect they rather liked having total control of the tree and what it looked like. They squabbled, they “negotiated” (which sounded more like a hysterical tableau of the Judgement of Solomon, but you take what you can get), they designed without a nagging OCD parent hovering over them “suggesting” that the artfully stuffed Pear from the Pear Tree would go better next to that crimson glass bauble.

Finishing touches

Post magic. The finished product with a side-serve of well-deserved cheese.

I love it. It’s not what I would have done, but parenting is not about controlling the party, is it?

21 comments on “Back off, mum. This Christmas Tree is OURS.”

I’m with you on this, let them do it – But I get a little tree that grows big in a pot, and always seems to grow weirdly, so our tree, covered in their handmade decorations probably looks a disaster to everyone except us. But you know what, we love it, so that’s the tradition….

I slowly fix a few of the decorations up over the month but I love that my kids have decorated the tree. My theory is, if there is enough decorations no one will notice the way it is all put together just blinded by the lights and glitter! I think they did a great job!

I love your last line – parenting is not about controlling the party. I am not OCD about my Christmas tree, but I am a *little bit* of a control freak in some other ways. Including dishing the decorations out to the kids in the right order. And running the order of events on Christmas itself. But, as they get older (my eldest is now nearly 12), I am learning that parenting is not about controlling the party. Not all the time anyway

I’m going to heed your advice this year Kim (since we share a name and all). Seems we share similar Christmas tree-decorating traits too, since I’ve got a few control-freaky issues over the distribution of tinsel and the silver to purple bauble ratio….Kidding. I’m not THAT bad, but I have been a bit of a ‘hoverer’ in years gone by. THis year, i’m just going to let them at it. Their end result looks gorgeous, and I LOVE that concentration face.

Oh I completely let go this year too! Hubby threw together the tree, I twirled on the lights and then we both walked away and left the boys to it. Looks good to me and I felt better being away from it all to be very honest. I’ve spent every other Christmas in an anxious mess trying to make it all look perfect, this year was a much much much better alternative. Josefa from #teamIBOT

I think if I’d let Mr 4 go for it by himself then all of the baubles would have been on one branch lol. I did let him go for it mostly though, just telling him not to put all the decos on one branch. Although I’m not a big fan of decorating the tree so I was happy to sit back and let him for for it.

It’s actually bloody great! I’m doing ours tomorrow and am usually UBER fussy about my tree, but this year I think I’ll let them do the lower half, what they can reach and I’ll go all OCD on the parts above the reach of their wee hands! My tree has also been SO symmetrical but MEH I agree, it’s all about letting go! CUTE girls and wow they seem so grown up in these pics!

They are growing up, WAY TOO FAST Em! There’s no way I could have mandated only the lower branches.—the girls would have been even KEENER to do the top branches. They did do them, with a footstool. Was expecting broken legs aplenty but they were fine. Kx

My tree is all sorts of mis matched and I love it!
I asked on FB the other day about whether people let their kids decorate, or went for the perfect tree, and I was sad by the number of people who said as kids they just gave up, because their mum had to have it just right.
As someone else said though, the tree decorated by the kids, is the perfect tree

This is so true. I don’t want to be that parent! My mum and dad ALWAYS let us do the tree. It was perhaps my favourite part of Christmas. How ironic that I feel compelled to still reclaim my childhood as an adult and almost taking it away from my own kids… Kx

Oh the cuteness of that last picture! Punky isn’t quite old enough to get how decorating works, she just placed all of the ornaments on top of the one branch but I am happy to let her decorate it however she wants in the coming years. I once had OCD tendencies but as I travel along this parenting road I am having to let them go bit by bit.

Wow this brings back memories! One year my three kids only decorated the front half of the tree, and I didn’t notice until I walked past the window. My eldest (a daughter of course), would straighten up after the boys had gone to bed, and then of course being a little OCD myself, I would straighten up after she went to bed. Everyone happy. Wait until you have to teach them to drive! Control freak hell.